The present invention relates generally to systems for providing fluid to rotating dies, and it finds particular application as an apparatus for suppling air to a die-cutting roll.
In a U.S. Patent to Kesten, No. 3,766,814 and air-eject die-cutting assembly was described in which air was suppled internally into a die-cutting roll for the purpose of freeing the die-cutting surfaces of the roll of scrapes that resulted from the cutting. That specification is hereby incorporated by reference.
Generally speaking, the previous Kesten arrangement included a cylindrical roll having radial apertures leading from an axial chamber to the surface of the roll. A manifold extended into the chamber of the roll and had radial openings for registry with the apertures in the roll. The manifold was stationary, and the roll rotated around the manifold. This caused air to be supplied to the outside surface of the cylinder through the apertures at regular intervals, whenever the openings in the manifold registered with apertures in the roll. This was a particularly advantageous arrangement because it permitted high-pressure air to be supplied to the surface only when needed, thereby greatly reducing the total volume of air required.
The roll of the U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,814 arrangement was intended to be easily removed from mounting in the press in which it was journaled. Typically, the air was supplied by means of a hose attached to a nipple that extended axially from the manifold. When it was desired to change dies, the hose was merely removed, and the assembly including the roll and the manifold were withdrawn from their position mounted in the press.
This arrangement, as was noted above, is quite advantageous and presented a significant step forward in the art. However, though the principle of U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,814 remains quite workable, and the specific embodiment illustrated therein can be readily applied in most instances, there exist applications to which the specific arrangement illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,814 is not well suited. Specifically, it has been found that some presses are so arranged that access to the manifold to supply air axially of the roll is not available, and it is necessary to bring the air in from a direction generally transverse to the axis of the roll and manifold. This would at first appear to present no particular problem, because the manifold is stationary, but a closer consideration of the problem reveals that an arrangement in which the air is supplied in a direction generally transverse to the access of the manifold will not afford easy replacement of the roll-and-manifold assembly in the bearing block and press. Accordingly, a need was present in the prior art for an arrangement in which the air could be supplied transversely but ready substitution of the roll-and-manifold assembly was afforded.